Final test of the year under way at Jerez

The final scheduled test session of 2007 got under way at Jerez de la
Frontera on December 4th with 20 drivers at work on the Spanish track.
BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld set the pace, his best of the day a 1:19.042.
The team also tried out young ...

The final scheduled test session of 2007 got under way at Jerez de la
Frontera on December 4th with 20 drivers at work on the Spanish track.
BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld set the pace, his best of the day a 1:19.042.
The team also tried out young drivers Marco Asmer and Javier Villa and
they were 18th and 20th respectively.

Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber F1 Team, F1.07.

Photo by xpb.cc.

Honda's Jenson Button was second quickest, just over a tenth off
Heidfeld, and new team tester Mike Conway was 10th. Button worked on
evaluation of 2008 electronics and trying out the slick tyres while
Conway continued his acclimatization of the car.

McLaren fielded both its test drivers, Pedro de la Rosa third and Gary
Paffett seventh. Their work was split between aerodynamic development
and chassis components and the pair swapped between chassis through the
day. Lewis Hamilton is scheduled to be at work on Wednesday.

New world champion Kimi Raikkonen was back in the Ferrari cockpit and
clocked the fourth fastest time, while team tester Marc Gen? was ninth.
They focused on a technical programme of development of new components
with the attention on electronics. Renault tester Nelson A. Piquet was
fifth, working on running without driver aids.

"It was good to get back to driving today, particularly as I will be in
the car for all three days this week," said the Brazilian youngster.
"I was comfortable in the car, and it felt good to be running without
driver aids. We found a good set-up for the car today, and that will
help us make more progress tomorrow."

Toro Rosso had it pair of Sebastians on track, Bourdais sixth and Vettel
11th. The former worked on front end solutions including suspension
and the latter had a programme of gearbox, brakes and engine control
systems. A technical issue cut his day short. Sister team Red Bull had
Mark Webber at work, eighth on the time sheet.

James Rossiter has been shuttling back and forth between Super Aguri and
Honda recently and for the moment he's on duty for Super Aguri, 12th
quickest. The standard electronic control system for 2008 was his focus
and, much the same as everyone else, slick tyres for a possible return
to the compound in 2009.

Force India has a busy schedule of trying out all sorts of drivers
and this first day of the test was the turn of Giancarlo Fisichella,
13th, and Franck Montagny, 16th. Fisichella drove for Renault in 2007
but looks unlikely to stay, although the team has yet to make any
announcement about drivers, while Montagny was previously test driver
for Toyota.

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima was 15th and Euro F3 star Nico Hulkenburg had
his debut with the Grove squad and was 14th. "Kazuki was working through
the final part of our 2007 test programme and Nico joined us for his
first run in a Formula One car," said test team manager Dickie Stanford.
"Nico provided solid feedback for his debut outing and will continue in
the car tomorrow alongside Nico Rosberg."

It was also fresh faces at Toyota; new race signing Timo Glock had
his first run for the Japanese squad, 17th, while Kamui Kobayashi
likewise took to the wheel as official third driver and managed 19th.
Acclimatizing to the car was their programme. "We are very pleased to
have Timo in the car and he has made a strong first impression," said
chassis chief Pascal Vasselon.

"He is very focused and worked hard today to understand the car and make
some improvements in set-up. As expected, he did a good job and provided
solid feedback, which is very useful for us. He drove without driver
aids today but that was no problem for him because of his experience in
GP2 driving without traction is natural to him."